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Even without Colin Kaepernick, 49ers should have range of quarterback options


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It now seems a foregone conclusion that Colin Kaepernick will soon be a Denver Bronco.

Consequently, it's likely a fait accompli that the San Francisco 49ers will take a quarterback — probably early — in the draft later this month. General manager Trent Baalke and new coach Chip Kelly are armed with a league-high 12 picks, including No. 7 overall, which essentially enables them to target any passer they want, especially since it wouldn't require an outlandish move to acquire the very available No. 1 pick owned by the Tennessee Titans.

So let's weigh some of the Niners' options:

— Blaine Gabbert: He made eight starts in 2015 after supplanting Kaepernick and showed flashes of the talent that made him a top-10 pick in 2011 even though he washed out with the Jacksonsville Jaguars. But Gabbert is only under contract for one more season. Even if he begins 2016 as the starter, which seems probable, history shows that no NFL passer has survived a 16-game schedule in Kelly's offense, so getting one in the draft is probably a no-brainer regardless of Gabbert's availability.

Carson Wentz, North Dakota State: He seems the odds-on favorite to be the first quarterback to come off the draft board, and Baalke would probably have to call the Titans to get him. Wentz showed the ability to operate out of a nice range of offensive sets in college and theoretically wouldn't have any problem adapting to Kelly's playbook. He's also a better athlete than Nick Foles, Mark Sanchez or Sam Bradford, who took the majority of the snaps for Kelly's Philadelphia Eagles over the previous three seasons. Combine Wentz's mobility and size (6-5, 237), and he might be best suited to both operate and survive in this system.

Jared Goff, California: Already a Bay Area star, he might be the people's choice to take the reins and likely will be available when the seventh pick rolls around. Goff is accurate, a good decision maker and can make any NFL throw, the most important prerequisites for success with Kelly. He's also got good pocket awareness and excellent feet, though his lean (6-4, 215) frame could be a red flag in a zone-read attack that exposes quarterbacks to danger.

Paxton Lynch, Memphis: Though his upside is significant, Lynch is generally viewed as a borderline first rounder, mostly because he'd likely need at least a year to get comfortable with NFL offenses — huddling, being under center and so forth. Yet that narrative goes out of the window in San Francisco. Lynch could be ready to go quickly for Kelly, who would allow him to do much of what he did in college —operate from the shotgun, have relatively defined reads and use his legs at the first whiff of trouble. And though Lynch is massive (6-7, 244), he runs very well. Targeting him ought to allow the Niners to take the best player on their board at No. 7. It's possible Lynch could then fall to San Francisco, which holds the 37th overall pick as well, in Round 2, but Baalke definitely has the wherewithal to move back up the board to get him.

— Vernon Adams, Oregon: He didn't play for Kelly's Ducks, but Adams already has a good grasp of the system after spending 2015 as Oregon's starter. His diminutive size (5-11, 200) suggests he probably won't cost more than a seventh rounder and could be a nice asset as a player-coach — and thus a better option than players like Dak Prescott — even if the 49ers draft another quarterback much earlier.

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Follow Nate Davis on Twitter @ByNateDavis

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